New station enhances Mount Rainier’s lahar detection network
New station expands scientists' capabilities to detect unrest and provide rapid notification of hazards to emergency officials and the public.
During October 6-8, 2020, a USGS-Cascades Volcano Observatory field team installed a new monitoring station near the lower parking lot at Paradise, on Mount Rainier. The seismic and infrasound array are part of the volcano’s monitoring and lahar detection network.
The seismometer detects ground vibrations that can occur as a result of magmatic, hydrothermal, and faulting processes beneath the volcano. The seismometer also detects ground motion associated with above-ground phenomenon, like the noisy, bouncing, rolling, falling mass of debris, rock, or ice.
Debris, rock and ice avalanches also generate low frequency sound waves that propagate in the atmosphere. The energy of the wave is between about 0.5 and 20 hertz, which is below the threshold of human hearing. But these atmospheric waves can be detected by infrasound sensors. At least three infrasound sensors make up an array. As sound waves pass each instrument, there is a small time difference in arrivals. Scientists use that difference to calculate a back azimuth, or direction that the sound came from, and the velocity of the wave sweeping across the array path.
With both seismic and infrasound data, scientists can provide more precise information to land managers, emergency managers and public about the location, timing, duration and relative vigor of an event. This leads to improved early hazard warnings for people and communities near this high-threat volcano.
Additional lahar monitoring stations are currently under consideration for other areas within Mount Rainier National Park.
Get Our News
These items are in the RSS feed format (Really Simple Syndication) based on categories such as topics, locations, and more. You can install and RSS reader browser extension, software, or use a third-party service to receive immediate news updates depending on the feed that you have added. If you click the feed links below, they may look strange because they are simply XML code. An RSS reader can easily read this code and push out a notification to you when something new is posted to our site.